"Our team isn't good enough to win and we know it. So this season
we want to develop and evaluate our young players, let them learn
from their mistakes -- and get us in position to grab a great
player. The best way for us to do that is to lose a lot of games.
This draft is loaded. There are potential All-Stars at the top,
maybe even franchise changers."

This is an astounding thing for a general manager to admit even
anonymously. The last thing most fans or players want to hear is
that the team is intentionally trying to lose games even if it is
better for the team in the long run.

But this admission is even more curious because the GM gave
enough hints for readers to figure out which team he works for or
at least to narrow the field.

What we know:

It is not a big market team: "You need
superstars to compete in this league, and the playing field for
those guys is tilted toward a few big-market teams...It's tough
for us to compete with that."

This team traded away older players: "We
obviously traded away some of our veteran guys who gave us a
better chance of winning right now for future draft picks and
young players."

The team may have more than one owner: "The
owners didn't want to tread water any more than I did. They'd
rather go down to the bottom with the hope of coming up, so
they signed off on it."

It is not the 76ers: "Look at the 76ers. Since
the draft in June, I don't think they've signed a player or
made a trade to add a legitimate player."